Planning Halloween games for kids a scary prospect? Never fear, we’ve got some ideas!

Friday

Sep 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 26, 2008 at 8:08 AM

Some game ideas for kids this Halloween.

Lisa Reicosky

Ring the Pumpkin
Supplies: Pumpkins, rings.
Line up two large pumpkins with good, sturdy stems, to form a ring toss. Use plastic hoops or make hoops with rope and duct tape. Take turns trying to ring a pumpkin stem from behind a determined line.
Handy hint: Smaller children can try to ring an entire large pumpkin with a hula hoop.
Bobbing for Doughnuts
Supplies: Doughnuts (one per child), string, broomstick or bar.
Hang doughnuts from a long broomstick with string. With a mom at each end, hold the stick high above the heads of the children with the doughnuts dangling at their level. Now see who can eat his doughnut first without using his hands.
Handy hint: For added fun (and mess), use powdered sugar doughnuts.
Mummify the Teacher
Supplies: Rolls of toilet paper, a teacher who’s a good sport.
Give each child his own roll of toilet paper. Have the teacher sit in a chair and have the kids wrap the teacher in the paper. The kids love it at the end when the teacher breaks out of the paper.
Handy hint: Use soft toilet paper. The cheap stuff tears apart and makes it hard to wrap around the teacher, which frustrates preschoolers.
Roll the Pumpkin Relay
Supplies: Six cones, two large, round pumpkins (not overripe).
Divide the children into two teams. Set up a straight course using the cones. Each child rolls the pumpkin around the cones and back, passing the pumpkin to the next person in line. The first team finished wins.
Handy hint: Play this in a wide, open space, as preschoolers tend to look down and run into walls while maneuvering the pumpkin. (We found this out the hard way.)
Candy Corn Relay
Supplies: Four big bowls, two large plastic serving spoons, several bags of candy corn.
Fill two bowls with candy corn and set them side by side on the floor. Set the two empty bowls about 15 feet away. Divide the children into two teams and line them up. On “go,” the first two children scoop up candy from their bowl using the spoon and take it across the room to their empty bowl. Then they run back and give the spoons to the next two in line. The first team to transfer its candy corn to the other bowl wins.
Handy hint: You must monitor the kids at all times because the candy will fall all over the floor, and they will eat it.
Allergy alert: Most candy corn is made in plants where peanuts are used. If your child is in a nut-free school, use M&M’s.
'Monster Mash' Musical Chairs
Supplies: A chair for each child, a tape or CD of “The Monster Mash.”
This game is fun because nobody loses. It is played like regular musical chairs, but as a chair is taken and the music stops, the children are told to sit on someone’s lap if they are left without a chair.
The kids roll with laughter at the end when they have seven kids on one chair. Have your cameras ready!
Who’s the Ghost?
Supplies: Large white sheet.
Divide the group into boys and girls. Take one group into the hall and place the sheet over one of the kids. Help the ghost back into the room with the rest of his or her group. The other group must guess who the ghost is.
Fear Factor
Supplies: Blindfold, bowls (or hollowed-out pumpkins) and things to make you go “eww.”
Fill bowls with items such as peeled grapes (eyeballs), spaghetti (worms), Jell-O (vomit), or cooked rice (maggots). Blindfold the kids and let them feel what’s in the bowl and guess what it is. Make sure you tell them what it is supposed to be before they take off the blindfold to really gross them out.
Helpful hint: Have paper towels or baby wipes handy.
For more ideas, check out these Web sites:
www.partygames.com/halloweengames
www.partygamecentral.com/halloween/halloweenpartygames
www.pumpkinnook.com/hween/games
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